Former Afghan interpreter for Canadian Armed Forces arrested by the Taliban, family says

A former Canadian Armed Forces military interpreter has been arrested by the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, CBC News has learned. 

"One morning I went to the [gym] with my father," said Basir Ahmad Azizi, the son of Bashir Ahmad Azizi, who worked as a CAF interpreter until at least 2007 at Kandahar Airfield when the Canadian military was posted there with other western coalition forces.

Azizi says Taliban gunmen showed up while his father was taking a break and handcuffed him. 

The son fled to a nearby canteen and waited for fifteen minutes to make sure they were gone before he emerged, he told CBC News through an interpreter. That was more than a week ago. 

He said his father did not like to talk about his work for the military too much, but was always proud of his service.

The family had been in hiding for two years, ever since they were unable to board flights that left Kabul in August 2021 when NATO forces fled Afghanistan following its takeover by the Taliban. 

It is also the second piece of misfortune the Azizis have dealt with in the last month.

Azizi's son in law, Sanaullah Azizi, and his pregnant wife had made it to neighbouring Pakistan several months ago, to be in a safer place while they waited for final approval from Immigration Canada to fly here.

But they were deported by police in Islamabad, as that country stepped up mass deportation of undocumented Afghan migrants in November.

"We are very cautious, I'm not going outside, never," Sanaullah Azizi said, also speaking through an interpreter.

He showed CBC News a note he had written to Canada's Embassy in Abu Dhabi, which oversees some of the immigration processing for Afghan migrants, alerting staff to Bashir Ahmad Azizi's abduction by the Taliban.

He received a response from the embassy that simply noted his own application is still in process, and said: "our office understands that you are eagerly awaiting more information about the processing of your application and we wish to extend our appreciation for your ongoing patience." 

As for Bashir Ahmad Azizi, nobody has heard from him since he was taken by the Taliban.

His son, Basir, the eldest of five children, says they've decided not to tell the youngest, who is only 10, what has happened to their father.